This is not strictly a Vinyl Vault review as I only have a digital download of the new album - it is therefore an 'Alternate Take'.
In 1970 Cat Stevens released the excellent 'Tea For the Tillerman'. I included it in my review of Cat's 'Teaser and the Firecat' LP (20 June 2020).
Fifty years later we get a chance to hear new arrangements and new interpretations of these seminal works in 'Tea for the Tillerman²'. We also see the Tillerman in a space suit and the kids listening to music and on their phones in the new cover artwork.
I've been playing this album for a few days now and I'm pleased to report that it was worth the wait. Let's be clear - NOTHING can improve on the original. If you play this to compare then you'll be disappointed. However, if you play this with a fresh approach, with the maturity that the past 50 years has given both Cat as the performer and you as the listener, then you're in for a treat.
Some tracks are totally different. 'Wild World' and 'Longer Boats' both receive dramatic work-overs, but every song is fundamentally new and they deserve to be acknowledged as such. Different instrumentation, fuller backing vocals, there's even rap! The part that doesn't change is Cat's sincerity in everything he does.
Having grown old alongside him, to me the most poignant track is 'Father and Son'. When he first recorded it, Cat was a 22 year old singing the part of an older man trying to impart his wisdom. Now, 50 years later, he sings the same song with the voice of age taking the part of the younger man wanting to break free. I've seen some comments where people wanted to hear the father sung by today's Cat and the son using the original recording. I don't agree. Both recordings are an interpretation of a generation gap from one voice with two perspectives and both of them are achingly beautiful.
I'm 22 in the body of a 70 year old - I own that song.
If you are a fan of Yusuf/Cat I'd recommend getting this new album to complete the journey.
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